Synesthetic: Composing Works for Marimba and Automated Lighting

This paper describes a series of explorations aimed at developing new modes of performance using percussion and computer-controlled lighting, linked by electronic sensing technology. Music and colour are often imagined to be related and parallels have been drawn between the colour spectrum and keyboard. Some people experience a condition, chromesthesia (a type of synesthesia), where experiences of colour and sound are linked in the brain. In our work, we sought to explore such links and render them on stage as part of a musical performance. Over the course of this project, tools and strategies were developed to create a performance work consisting of five short movements, each emphasising a different interactive strategy between the performer, lights, and composition. In this paper, we describe the tools created to support this work: a custom wearable lighting and sensing system, and microcontroller-based OSC to DMX lighting controller. We discuss each composition and how the interactions reflect ideas about synesthesia.Arts Council Norwa

Three in one : Composer`s intentions and performers reflections

This thesis describes the process from composition to performance, with special emphasis on the composer's intentions and the communication of musical ideas to the performers, through a musical score of an opera. This is done by composing three scenes that use the same libretto, interpreting the libretto in three different ways. The research data was in the form of personal reflections, a questionnaire and a group discussion. I examined my own compositional process and the intentions I had in mind when writing the music, and compared them to the response given by the performers after playing through the music for the very first time. From there, I try to see where possible differences and agreements occur. The result was that my main ideas for the atmosphere and the connections between characters were clear, but the finer details, such as why things happen and where, were not always understood. I also look at the difference between the responses given by the instrumentalists, and the singers. The results show that while the singers got more of the bigger picture, the instrumentalists noticed some of the finer details in the music.Validerat; 20120704 (anonymous

The process of writing the mini opera Dimmalimm

This thesis describes the process that Gísli Jóhann Grétarsson, composer, and Margrét Brynjarsdóttir, librettist/singer, faced while writing their mini opera Dimmalimm in 2009.The thesis focuses on the changes and alternations that where made in the music and libretto while writing the opera.It also discusses why one path was taken rather than another.The following parts of the process are discussed: The original story used to write the opera (The Story of Dimmalimm by Guðmundur Thorsteinsson) The limitations of the pre organized structure of the opera The dramatization and interpretation of the libretto, the music and stage directions in the libretto. The collaboration between the composer and the librettist of Dimmalimm in comparison to similar collaborations throughout history.Validerat; 20110129 (anonymous